The return of a beloved band from inactivity could be construed as messianic. And while it is overmuch to assume said band walks to every concert on rays of light and ringed with aureoles, the effect is analogous for fans.
Saturday, Feb. 8, one such band returned to Madison and performed under the sold out dome of the Orpheum Theater. Saturday marked the return of Neutral Milk Hotel, Athens Ga.’s finest and the most lauded members of the Elephant 6 Recording Company.
The show wasn’t opener/headliner, but rather two crack groups: The aforementioned Neutral Milk Hotel and Athens, Ga. cohorts Elf Power. Suffice to say, both bands brought their absolute most—and absolute best—to the stage.
On record, Elf Power play a slightly hazy mix of psychedelic pop and garage rock. Live, everything was amped up and raucous, with old and new songs both thrown into the mix. Several songs came from their acclaimed 1999 album A Dream In Sound including this reporter’s favorite, “Will My Feet Still Carry Me Home,” a lolling, bass-driven, sunny song. Other highlights from the set included “Vainly Clutching at Phantom Limbs” and “Strange Designs.”
They also covered The Olivia Tremor Control’s “Jumping Fences,” which in light of the passing of OTC’s lead singer Bill Doss back in 2012, gave the song an elegiac tone.
Elf Power played with style, and they dressed in style too. Drummer Peter Alvanos sported a sick yellow and blue necktie to go along with his sick mustache. Bryan Poole, rhythm guitarist/muttonchops master, dressed in all white—from his white shoes to his white beanie hat.
Lead singer/guitarist Andrew Rieger brought much warmth and humor to the proceedings, thanking everyone for coming out when Elf Power’s set was done and also giving a special shout out to all the fans who had massed themselves in front of the stage: “Did you [all] bring a little catheter bag or something?”
As alum of Elephant 6, both Neutral Milk Hotel and Elf Power are no strangers to collaboration. NMH’s horn maestro Scott Spillane sat in on Elf Power’s finale, and later, Elf Power’s Laura Carter played zanzithophone on several of Neutral Milk Hotel’s songs—finally resolving this reporter’s ignorance with regards to all the appealing bagpipe-like sounds on “Untitled.”
When guitarist Jeff Mangum took the stage, attired in a splendid sweater, the crowd erupted in cheers. This reporter felt a twinge of awe—here was something that had previously been an impossibility, a live Neutral Milk Hotel show. Now it was reality—an amazing, humbling reality.
And when Mangum veered into “Two-Headed Boy,” this reporter felt the tears creep up on the back of his goosebumps.
After Magnum’s solo introduction, the rest of the band joined him for a seamless segue into “The Fool." It was a real treat to see Jeremy Barnes live in action behind his kit. He is hands down one of the best drummers, live and on record. “Holland, 1945” followed, post haste, fast and howling, with accordionist/bassist/saw whisperer Julian Koster hopping around with a bright, cherry red bass booming so loud this reporter felt it in his front row balcony seat.
You have not lived, by the way, if you have not seen Koster, attired in a one-eyed blue beanie, hopping around with a distended accordion.
The defining feature of the show was its energy. Nearly every song from their catalogue (save some instrumentals) made an appearance that night—including all of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, save "Communist Daughter"—and each was supercharged and frenetic. Even “A Baby for Pree,” a low-key ballad from On Avery Island, was played with frantic urgency. Those moments were akin to transcendence, breaking free from the confines of the original recordings.
Not every song achieved transcendence via freneticism. Then again, those were the songs that weren’t geared to, didn’t need to, the songs that felt most comfortable under their skin. One such example was “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.” Even 16 years since the original was recorded, performed live it exuded the same warmth and vigor. Mangum’s every cadence was placed perfectly, every horn line was perfectly resonant. Koster’s saw solo was everything this reporter had ever wanted.
A high point of the night came from Mangum solo suite, “Oh Comely.” When he held the note before the burial line, the crowd joined in, carrying the song to a heightened emotional pitch.
Another memorable moment came with their rendition of “Ferris Wheel on Fire,” which was accompanied by a sort of golden canary light cast from above, as well as old gem “Rubby Bulbs,” which the band performed in the glow of bittersweet orange lights.
The band was very gracious to be there, in that moment. Mangum had requested before the show that people don’t take pictures or videos of the show, and he only had to ask once in the show for the audience to stop.
Koster was especially ebuillent, saying to the crowd (and in particular, to a group of people who had camped out in front of the Orpheum at 7 a.m. so they could stand in front of the stage,) “Madison seems like a pretty wonderful place for us.”
The band took an encore and played the finishing suite from In The Aeroplane Over the Sea: “Ghost/Untitled/Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2.” The crowd was in raptures the whole time. People climbed on each others’ shoulders and hopped around during the “Untitled” part. When “Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2” came on, people held their lighters up, as the spotlight concentrated on Mangum.
There weren’t enough lighters to constitute a sea—there were enough to dapple in the descending darkness as the light closed in on Mangum. He well could have been absorbing it. He was almost luminescent with joy and excitement. It would have made a superb finale.
But the real finale came, not with a paean to Mangum’s “Two-Headed Boy,” but to the audience. The band came back on to play “Engine,” which Mangum dedicated as a lullaby. And when it was all done, the audience did feel like they had passed into a dream—the dream of seeing a beloved band live, when there was previously no possibility.
Neutral Milk Hotel graced the Orpheum with a supernal performance—so did Elf Power—and while they were not walking on rays of light, they nonetheless portended something divine.
And yes, this reporter professes, under the bright stage lights, each band was faintly ringed with aureoles.
